Based out of Sweden, Hoylu provides visual collaboration and online whiteboard tools for remote and distributed teams. It has two flagship products – HoyluWall and the Hoylu Online Whiteboard, which you can use to visualise, discuss, and share your ideas. Importantly, Hoylu integrates with several enterprise communication, collaboration, and project management tools, such as Jira, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, etc. While the company offers a free product for individuals and small teams, Hoylu is typically priced at $8 per user per month. This version will allow you to make the most of its integrations, including Microsoft Teams.
Hoylu announced its Microsoft Teams app in May 2020, when demand for remote collaboration and productivity tools skyrocketed. It should be noted that Hoylu had an existing partnership with the Microsoft ecosystem, leveraging the Azure Cloud for infrastructure. Hoylu in Teams works via channel tabs, personal apps, and meeting extensions, and you can even use your Office 365 credentials to sign in.
In 2021, Hoylu further strengthened its Microsoft partnership by introducing interactive application portals for its primary platform. This allows you to embed Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and other Office services directly inside a Hoylu workspace.
Let us now review the key features of the Hoylu app for Teams.
Inside Hoylu for Microsoft Teams
Hoylu is a free integration for Microsoft Teams users for a trial period of 30 days. First, you must sign up for a free Hoylu account, which supports up to three workspaces. The app is available for download on Microsoft AppSource. You can also visit the application marketplace on Teams by clicking on the Apps icon on the left navigation pane.
Here are the key features to expect with Hoylu for Teams:
- Prebuilt whiteboarding templates – This is the flagship capability enabled by the Hoylu app. It includes a vast library of whiteboarding templates that you can use for various use cases. For example, you can leverage a ready-to-use template for retrospective meetings. There are weekly planners and calendar views, and you could create a Kanban board with swimlanes for task management.
- Access your workspaces from Teams – Your existing workspaces in Hoylu will be accessible and editable on Teams once you install the integration. Workspaces are like collaboration hubs dedicated to a task or a project. Each workspace is built on its template and contains content about the task or project. Multiple Teams users can work on the same workspace.
- Import common file types – When creating a new whiteboard or collaborating on an existing workspace, you can fetch files and embed information that you have stored locally. This allows you to work offline at your convenience and add your inputs and files to a workspace when you are ready to share the work with your team members.
- Rich editing and collaboration features – One of the biggest advantages of using Hoylu is its powerful and flexible editing and collaboration tools. Depending on your chosen template, you can insert sticky notes, mark date and time, add text, write comments, create freehand drawings, highlight specific portions, add a thumbs-up, and much more. This also aids in collaboration – for example, you can use sticky notes to annotate a co-authored document or add a thumbs-up to vote on ideas discussed in a workspace.
- Deep integration with Microsoft 365 – Hoylu is closely integrated with the end-to-end Microsoft 365 suite of tools. For example, you can sign in to the app using your Office 365 credentials. You can also import content from OneDrive and Office 365 apps like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc. The workspaces and content you create using Hoylu will be shareable via links through Outlook.
Why the Hoylu App Makes a Difference
Hoylu’s biggest USP is its collection of templates. You can set up a workspace for various use cases, essentially using Hoylu for multiple tasks, projects, and applications. What’s more, Holy offers an almost infinite whiteboard space to play around with – with its 55,000+ page whiteboard capability.
What We Think
With so many digital whiteboarding alternatives out there, does Hoylu make the cut? We think so. Not only can you gain from hundreds of templates, but each template also comes with its unique toolset. This makes it easy to navigate and cuts down the learning curve.
Start using Hoylu here.
